BRUCE HOWARD
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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In this workers' compensation appeal, the Florida District Court of Appeal reversed the lower court's denial of benefits to fruit pickers injured while assisting stranded motorists. The court held that the claimants' rescue efforts constituted a compensable activity under the positional risk doctrine because they were responding to a true emergency that placed ordinary human demands on them.
The court held that claimants were entitled to compensation benefits because they were responding to a true emergency and their employment brought them to the location where the rescue was required. Under the positional risk doctrine, an employee's injury incurred in rescuing a stranger is compensable when the employment placed the employee in a position requiring rescue by ordinary standards of humanity.
[1] An injury incurred in the rescue of a stranger is compensable if the conditions of employment place the claimant in a position which requires them by ordinary standards o…
[2] An employee's injury is compensable under the positional risk doctrine if it was incurred in the rescue of a complete stranger, provided the employment brought the employ…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“'[i]njury incurred in the rescue of a stranger is compensable if the conditions of employment place claimant in a position which requires him by ordinary standards of humanity to undertake the rescue.'”
Establishes the governing legal standard for compensability of rescue injuries under the positional risk doctrine
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTwo fruit pickers employed to harvest fruit went to a grove on June 19, 1988, to retrieve an abandoned fruit tub. Unable to locate the tub, they retur…
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PER CURIAM.
Petitioner, Bruce Howard, seeks habeas corpus relief regarding his 1987 upward departure sentence for second-degree murder. We deny the petition on the merits because the record before us shows beyond a reasonable doubt that the trial judge would have imposed the same upward departure sentence based on the valid reasons previously given, even without consideration of the one arguably invalid factor first determined when Howard was sentenced. See Albritton v. State, 476 So. 2d 158, 160
(Fla. 1985). Further, we conclude that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion by the extent of the departure. See id.
Petitioner has repeatedly challenged his upward departure sentence in this court. He is therefore cautioned that any further pro se filings in this court asserting claims stemming from his conviction and sentence in case number 84-3221-BB, Circuit Court, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Volusia County, Florida, may result in sanctions such as a bar on pro se filings in this court and referral to prison officials for disciplinary proceedings, which may include forfeiture of gain time. See State v. Spencer, 751 So. 2d 47, 48–49 (Fla. 1999); § 944.279(1), Fla. Stat. (2018).
PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS DENIED. BERGER, LAMBERT, and EISNAUGLE, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- State v. Spencer, 751 So. 2d 47 (Fla. 1999)
- O'Leary v. Brown-Pacific-Maxon, Inc., 340 U.S. 504 (U.S. 1951)
- City OF Atl. Beach v. Bull, 476 So. 2d 158 (Fla. 1985)
- Albritton v. State, 476 So. 2d 158 (Fla. 1985)
- Rockhaulers, Inc. v. Davis, 554 So. 2d 654 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)
- Murphy v. Peninsular Life Ins. Co., 299 So. 2d 3 (Fla. 1974)